Leap of Faith
by LordXwee
Summary: -Discontinued- Flight 316 crashed on the Island, reuniting Ben with his home. After paddling on a raft with Locke, the two make it to Jacob's Cabin. There, Ben learns of a disturbing task that has a great reward. A reward that he would go to any length to
1. Privacy

**This idea came to me while I was sleeping, because my subconscious is twisted like that.  
The focus is on Ben, even though in the beginning part it doesn't seem like it.  
**

**LOST is claimed by Darlton, not me. Sadly.  
Though, I am sipping tea in Jacob's Cabin.

* * *

**

The water was unusually calm as the New Islanders watched Ben and Locke paddle to the main Island. People had complained that they wanted to be on the raft too. They complained that those two were mysterious. Why should they be trusted? What if they never came back? Ilana marched up to Caesar.

"Why did you let them go alone?" she angrily whispered underneath all the heavy complaints.

"You know how the bald one, Mr. Locke, said he was dead before?"

Ilana nodded. "Yes, he said that. Really strange, isn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Really strange. But get this, he said he was killed. And guess by who?"

"Who?"

"The other guy, the one of the raft with him. That's what Mr. Locke said."

The two stared at each other. Caesar began to feel awkward when Ilana didn't reply. He cleared his throat. "So I thought they could use some privacy."

"You idiot! What if the other guy tries to kill him again?"

"You see him? He was all bloody and his arm was in a sling. I don't think he could, he's too small."

"Still, Caesar. If this guy is murderer, he should be tied to a tree over here or something. Not out there!"

Caesar looked down at his feet. "I don't think the guy will be coming back here."

"What?"

"I said I wanted to give them some privacy." Caesar leaned closer to Ilana. "Mr. Locke had a gun." Caesar carefully left out the part that Locke got the gun from him. At first, Locke didn't want to take it. But Caesar had told him they wouldn't give him one of the rafts if he didn't take it with him. For safety purposes.

"This is crazy," Ilana said.

"I know. But don't make a scene, alright? Mr. Locke seems like an okay guy."

"Whatever. I just hope he gets his business sorted out before rescue comes."

Caesar kicked up some sand. "If rescue comes," he muttered.

* * *

"Excuse my lousy paddling. My arm still hurts," Ben said.

"The Island can resurrect me, but not fix your arm?" Locke asked. That shut Ben up. Of course, there was a high level of hostility in the raft. Locke had every right to feel angry, Ben understood that. But it made him nervous. That was an unusual feeling for him.

"I suppose we are going to see Jacob." Ben said. Locke sat there, paddling, not looking back or responding. "Do you know where the cabin is?"

"I really do not want to talk to you."

That shut Ben up again. The comment made Ben believe Locke was confused on what to do next. That is something the Island does. It confuses you, it makes you wait, it makes you try the impossible. That is something Ben had to grow up with. He grew able to cope with it. But since Alex's death, everything had grown cloudy. He couldn't decipher anything anymore.

The two made it onto the main Island's beach and set the raft down on the sand. Silently, Locke began to trek into the jungle even though he didn't know where to go. Ben followed him anyway. Jacob, at the very least his cabin, had the ability to move around now. He wondered what happened to the powder circle. Maybe the magical time jumps whisked it all away.

Time passed, it was darker out, but somehow the two stumbled upon the cabin. Ben hadn't paid much attention and didn't look for the circle. It didn't really matter much now. They were here.

Ben was about to go through the door, but Locke stopped him.

"You're staying here," he said. "If he wants you, then I'll come out here and get you."

Ben nodded. There was no use trying to argue or manipulate him. He could be patient. Ben sat down on the dirty ground and watched Locke go in. The broken window made it easy to eavesdrop.

"John," a voice said. Ben immediately knew this wasn't the voice of Jacob. "It's good to see you back. But we still have a bit of a problem."

"What? I did what I was told, Christian. I was a sacrifice. People came back."

"Then where is Aaron?"

"Well, what the hell was I supposed to do? I was dead." It was a bad idea for Locke to get into an argument with someone with so much power. But this was 'Christian.' The name sounded so familiar for some reason, but Ben still knew he wasn't Jacob. Or anywhere close to Jacob.

"Sorry John. But your friends are still on this Island. They are in a different time zone, but still here. You just won't see them."

"They're okay?"

"They're okay. Sun and the pilot Frank are with you though. They are the ones who took the raft." Ben heard many things wrong with this Christian guy. Jacob would've said "my Island." It is his anyway. Jacob also prefers to use last names, to be less personal. It took awhile for Jacob to stop calling him Linus. Now it's Benjamin.

"There is another task you'll have to complete," Christian continued. "You must first lead the new people who crashed."

"But what about Richard and them? Those are suppose to be my people."

"Nothing is wrong with some practice. Hopefully it won't be too long."

Locke lowered his voice a bit. "What about Ben?"

"He has his own things to do, you don't have to worry about him." That sounded ominous. "We are pretty much done here. You can go and send him in."

Ben could see the plain frustration on Locke's face when he walked out. Ben stood up and dusted dirt off his pants.

"He's ready for you."

Ben went into the cabin. Quickly he found a piece of wood and put it over the broken part to the window. He hoped Locke didn't notice that. Ben turned around to see the true Jacob sitting in his rocking chair. No Christian in sight.

"Benjamin. Long time no see. Sit down. I have a job for you that would be in your best interest to take."

* * *

**Suspense, suspense, suspense! Ha. I foresee more chapters in the future.  
I think it would be in your best interest to read them.**

**LordXwee  
**


	2. Anything Means Anything

***pours tea and sets out tray of scones*  
Thank you reviewers~!  
**

**LOST is claimed by Darlton, not me. Sadly.  
Though, I'm hiding behind Jacob's rocking chair.

* * *

**

Ben sat down carefully on the chair across from Jacob. This was certainly an unnerving situation that he was in. There was still no sign of Christian in the room.

"You've been different, Benjamin. I assume this is because of what happened to you daughter."

Jacob was very blunt, but it was the truth. Most of his own mess did stem from the death of Alex.

"You didn't seem very passionate when trying to save her."

Ben scowled. That statement hurt him deeply. "I didn't know that Keamy wasn't informed of the rules."

"He was," Jacob said in his usual monotone voice, "He just didn't care for them." Ben could feel that Jacob was trying to get him angry and emotional. It was on it's way to working. "Though, you did stab him to death." Another thing he could tell was that Jacob was happy about that. He did have a twisted sense of justice.

"And why are you bringing this up?" Ben asked.

"Yes, of course." Jacob stopped rocking in his chair. "What would you do to get her back?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your daughter, to have her back in your arms alive. What would you do to achieve that?"

Ben stared at Jacob. His voice sounded serious. Then again, his voice was always like that. But Jacob wasn't the one to kid around. If he said something, it was truthful. Plus this opportunity was too good to pass up. "Anything," Ben whispered.

Jacob smirked, a rare showing of emotion. "You know the new people that have crashed on my Island?"

"Yes," Ben answered in a low voice.

"Kill them."

"...what?"

"There are only twenty of them. I didn't think this would be too hard, considering your past with the Dharma Initiative."

"No, no, not that," Ben said, "But I heard what John has to do."

Jacob leaned back in his rocking chair. "You heard him with Christian?"

"Yes. Who is Christian?"

"Shephard's father. He was dead when he arrived here." That's why the name was so familiar. It was from baggage. "I brought him back and he's now an...associate of mine. He speaks to whomever isn't fully prepared to speak to me directly. He wasn't ever on your side though, Benjamin. He wanted Locke to be the leader. But I still have some faith in you. That is why I'm giving you a chance at redemption."

"And Alex?"

"Her death distracts you. So I thought it would be right to serve some sort of reward as an incentive."

This all felt so unreal. It made Ben feel almost happy, even with the depressing task of killing multiple people being ahead. "But what of John's task?"

"As I said, Christian and I have a conflict with our beliefs. So this is a test. If Locke can manage these people, figure out you are the killer and get you to stop, then he wins. He gets to be the leader. But if you kill all twenty, you get to continue on with your previous way of living."

"What happens to the loser?"

"Nothing bad, they just get to be second-in-command."

"So John's not number twenty? Because I really do not think I could kill him again."

"I never asked you to kill him the first two times," Jacob replied. His voice sounded dangerous. That was definitely not a topic bring up again. It was fantastic that he was getting a second chance, but Ben could see that Locke did still have a high standard in Jacob's eyes, not just Christian's. "Do you accept this test?"

"Of course."

"Good. The physicist didn't disable all of the toxic gases in The Tempest. If you would travel there, you should find some extra canisters along with weapons that could help you."

"Okay. And thank you for everything, Jacob." Jacob gave him a simple nod and Ben promptly left the cabin. Christian then appeared out of the shadowy corner with a disapproving look on his face.

"I think you've made a bad decision," Christian said.

"You always think that."

* * *

"What was this place used for?" Locke asked once the two were in the station. As Ben correctly guessed, The Tempest wasn't that far from the cabin. It was actually just behind the tree line. Ben forgot to question Jacob about how the cabin could move. Maybe it was of Christian's doing.

"Useless Dharma experiments," Ben said. It was a similar answer he gave Locke when they were back in the Orchid.

"Well, what are you using this place for?"

"Supplies." Ben smirked. He wasn't telling lie. Just a very nondescript answer.

"Reminds me of a dairy factory." Ben ignored the random comment and continued to the back room while Locke walked around The Tempest. There he found a closet of firearms complete with three small canisters of toxic gas and two gas masks. Ben also grabbed a bookbag and starting putting stuff in it. He chose 9mm M92 pistol out of the guns because he needed something small and lightweight. It was a familiar weapon for him anyway. He quickly zipped up the bookbag.

"What's in there?" Locke questioned after Ben closed the door.

It didn't seem like Locke was going to beat him down and rip open the bookbag so he simply repeated his answer from before. "Supplies." Locke went for the door and Ben simply moved aside. He had already locked it. "It's getting late and I don't believe we should trek back to the beach in the dark. Are you fine with staying here for the night?"

Locke just shrugged and walked off. Ben heard him mutter something like "I'd rather stay at Jacob's." But he didn't care. He had more important things to think about at the moment.

* * *

**I was thinking about how adorable and innocent Ben was as Henry Gale in Season 2.  
Oh how things change...**

**LordXwee  
**


	3. Good Morning

**Hahaha, anyone have any mustard for the sammich?  
**

**LOST is claimed by Darlton, not me. Sadly.  
Though, the Tempest is actually a dairy factory made for magic cows.

* * *

**

Ben woke up to the sound of Locke trying to open the "supplies" closet. He thought that Locke trying to be sneaky was sort of funny. It's not like he was going to get in anyway. Ben stood up from his makeshift cot.

"Good morning, John."

Locke stopped and turned around. "Ben."

"I told you there was nothing important in there."

"Since when was I supposed to trust you?" Locke brushed past Ben. Someone must have not slept well last night. "Let's go." Ben grabbed his bag. Their complete opposite moods were another thing Ben thought was funny. Locke was grumpy but Ben was excited. He wanted to start. He wanted to make each kill. So he just followed Locke out the door of the Tempest without a complaint.

* * *

"He's not coming back," Ilana said.

"Hey. Don't be a pessimist," Caesar replied.

"Pot calling the kettle black."

"Whatever. Just have some patience." Caesar hated bickering with Ilana, but she was the only person here that he knew. He was making it his top priority to be tolerant of her.

"Why did you make him go away on a death mission anyway, Caesar?"

"Do you want a murderer in our campsite?"

Ilana took a glance at this guy named Tommy. He sat in the sand, far away from everybody. He constantly was biting on the cuffs of his long-sleeve gray t-shirt. He just seemed dirty in general. Ilana didn't know that he used to be a heavy smoker and all of his cigarettes were destroyed in the crash. "How about him? I don't want him in our campsite."

"Well I can't make all the decisions, Ilana."

Someone yelped and both immediately stood up. People were flocking towards the beach, where Locke had just pulled in with his raft. Surprisingly, the other man was with him too. Caesar shook his head. He was a bit disappointed.

Ben was quickly counting the New Islanders that were around them. He only got up to nineteen. Ben noticed Sun and Lapidus still weren't back. Did Jacob want one of them to die? Ben then took notice of Tommy sitting by himself. That made the twenty. Never mind. But the fact that someone was already a deemed the loner of the group was great. A suspect was already in place.

"Where is the pilot and the woman?" someone asked.

"I don't know, we didn't see them," Locke answered. Ben quietly took a back seat, still studying the people. He was glad that Sun wasn't around. The bitch knocked him unconscious when he was only trying to help her.

"Then why did you come back?"

"I got the answers I needed."

"From who? About what?"

"About what to do next." Wow these questions were irritating. They were just mind numbingly simple. But he noticed Locke was going to soon forget who he was with. He wasn't with his friends. These are new people who haven't accepted the Island. They want to leave. They aren't like him. And they probably won't take him being the leader too nicely.

"Well what do we do?"

"We wait until someone comes for us." Maybe the someone Locke was hinting at was Richard? That could be possible. The two knew rescue wasn't going to come. Or maybe Locke was just trying to calm some of their fears. Or even more possible is that he should stop analyzing Locke's words. He needed to focus on the kills. He never got close to anyone when they first crashed, so that would rule out any emotional attachment to these people.

"Where did you and your little boyfriend go to learn this?" Ben focused his attention to the man who said that. He was blond, tall, and clean-shaven. It's like someone combined the "man of science" way of thinking with Sawyer and made a new person. The man better hope he wasn't alone tonight.

"There is this man on the other Island," Locke began. Ben turned and gave him the don't-say-it look. Jacob was not the person to bring up right now. "He said for us to wait."

"But how do you know this for sure?" the same guy questioned.

"What, are we supposed to go look around to see if we could find a random submarine?" Ben said, entering the conversation. Locke in turn gave him an odd stare. Don't worry John, he thought, he knew what he was doing. The thing he found more of a surprise is that people looked hopeful.

"My name's Dave," the prick introduced himself.

"Ben."

"Alright, Ben. May I take you up on that offer?"

Ben looked around at all the eager faces. Even the loner in the gray shirt seemed interested from all the way over there. "Sure. Anyone else want to join us?"

Locke kept the odd stare on his face. He certainly seemed pissed. But he should know by now that Ben always had a plan. Tommy came over and joined the group, raising his hand along with nine other people. Counting Dave, that was half of the crew he had to murder. Perfect! "Ten," Ben said, "Okay. Try to gather stuff from the plane, then we can get moving. There's still a lot of daylight to burn." The crowd dispersed, leaving Locke and Ben alone.

"What the hell?" Locke asked angrily.

"There are new people here with us, John," Ben said, "All kinds of new people. But they all have one thing in common."

"And what is that?"

"They are all desperate to go home."

"But they can learn to love this place-"

"You're going to scare them away if you bring up the idea of never getting rescued. So I'm just offering a second option."

"Getting them excited to go on a trip to find an imaginary sub isn't exactly going to help."

Ben smirked. "I'd hate to sound like a broken record John, but I always have a plan."

* * *

**:)**

**LordXwee  
**


	4. Okay

***insert lots of random angry letters here* I despise you Sayid!!  
**

**LOST is claimed by Darlton, not me. Sadly.  
Though, I haven't seen Locke in awhile.

* * *

**

"Everyone ready?" Ten anxious faces that looked at him told Ben yes. He was anxious too. He wanted to get everything done. "We'll head up the west side of the beach then see what's there first." There were nodding of heads and some mumbles then everyone started moving. Locke marched up to Ben.

"I'm just going to let you know before you leave," Locke said, keeping his voice low, "If you do anything stupid or get yourself in trouble with those people, I'm not going to be on your side."

"Alright." That much Ben had already guessed. Locke left again, leaving without saying goodbye. Oh well. It wasn't his priority to fix his friendship right now. Ben joined up with his group and took the front leader position. Something he was quite used to. A girl came up to him.

"Hey, my name's Chrissy," she said, "Where will we going? Like, is it far?"

"We're exploring this side of the Island. There isn't one specific place we're going to."

"So, like, a lot of walking?"

Ben looked over at Chrissy. She was wearing very short denim shorts and a baby blue tank top. You could very well see that her blonde hair wasn't natural. If he had to guess, he would say she was in her early twenties. "Yes."

"Ugh, really? I don't want to walk."

"Then why did you come with us?"

"I was bored. Everyone's so boring." Not seeing any more interest in talking to Ben, she went to the back of the group. Ben smirked. She didn't have to stay here that much longer.

* * *

It had turned dark very quickly. They didn't even make much progress. Like Chrissy, most of them didn't want to walk. They took a lot of unneeded breaks. Half of them wanted to even head back, because they expected a submarine would be right around the corner. Everyone was just angering him. He had to take action tonight.

"How are we suppose to go to the bathroom?" Chrissy asked.

"The jungle," someone answered.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah," the same guy replied.

"Well I don't want to go alone into the dark," Chrissy turned to Ben, "Are you a perv?"

"Excuse me?"

"You're the leader and I'm scared to go alone. So, like, if you came I don't want you to...look."

This was a certainly developing into an awkward situation. "I wouldn't."

Chrissy sat up from the rock she was sitting on. Ben did the same and so did Tommy. "Where are you going?" Chrissy asked Tommy.

"I have to go too," he replied. His voice was raspy and quiet.

"Ew, no!"

"Just let him come along," Ben said. Wow, these people were really idiots, fighting over simple things like this. Chrissy made a face but motioned for them to go ahead. They walked through the tree line and into the jungle.

"Can you like, back up?" Chrissy said when she believed they were far enough. Ben unzipped his bookbag. "What the hell? Little freaky guy, was that your pants? Because you better not pee by me."

"Just shut up," Ben whispered.

"Huh?" was all Chrissy could say before Ben shot her. He barely blinked as pieces of skull and brain matter spew on the jungle floor. The gore didn't really phase him at all.

"W-what?"

Ben turned to face Tommy. He certainly looked terrified. Ben grabbed a handful of Tommy's shirt with his left hand. "Be quiet." Ben then put the gun to the very edge of his own shoulder and pulled the trigger. Ben cringed but he knew it was nothing more then a flesh wound. The bullet wasn't even embedded into his skin, it probably hit a tree behind him or something.

"What the hell, man? What are you doing? You just killed a chick!"

"What are _you_ talking about?" Ben asked, showing a look of confusion, "I didn't kill anyone. You did."

"You shot her in the head!"

"No, you did. Then you shot me and ran."

"That's complete bullshit!" For the quiet one, he sure could yell pretty loud. He seemed to get hot-headed in a situation full of pressure. Things seemed to play out perfectly.

"Well let's see who they believe." They could here Dave yelling something close to "Come on!" Tommy looked scared. Perhaps he knew that he wasn't in a good situation. Of course, the New Islanders wouldn't be on his side. He was a suspicious person. A person who couldn't be trusted. There were some rustling in the bushes not that far away.

Ben leaned close to Tommy. "I suggest you run." He let go of Tommy's shirt. Taking up the opportunity, Tommy ran. Hopefully he would get caught. Ben needed an escape goat for later on. A few seconds later, Dave and these two male Spanish twins burst through the jungle. Dave grimaced at the sight of Chrissy but quickly turned to Ben.

"What happened?"

"Tommy, he- he went that way," Ben pointed in the correct direction Tommy ran. There would be no reason to lie about that. The twins looked at each other, nodded, and sprinted in that direction. They were extremely fast. Good. Dave came closer to Ben and checked out his wound.

"Ben, tell me what happened."

"I was with Chrissy and Tommy. Then Tommy just randomly shot her. I guess he got scared and tried to shoot me but it's not that bad. I'm not dead."

"Okay, okay," Dave said. He seemed to have trouble with a dead body so close to him. "It's okay. Marc and Pedro will get him. They used to do track in high school or something."

Ben took out the gun and showed it to Dave. "I got his gun away from him. I can see you are uncomfortable so I'll carry it."

"Yeah, yeah, that'll be good." Dave ran his fingers through his hair. "Are you alright? I mean you're bleeding."

"Don't worry about me," Ben said, "Let's worry about catching this killer first."

* * *

**Ben is such a naughty boy.**

**LordXwee  
**


	5. Escape Goats

**Ben didn't die on my birthday!!**

**LOST is claimed by Darlton, not me. Sadly.  
Though, Ben really needs a hug.

* * *

**

Locke watched as Ilana and some others circled around this giant metal crate. He didn't know what it was for, they wouldn't tell him. He didn't return the gun Caesar let him borrow because he feared he might need it later. Ilana seemed to take a leadership role and everyone else just seemed to be fine with it. It's like they all knew her or something.

Locke walked up to them. "So you're not going to tell me what's inside?" he asked.

"I thought you would know, you seem like such the leader," Ilana said, still trying to fiddle with the lock.

"I don't remember this on the plane."

"I don't remember you on the plane."

Locke didn't like the level of hostility here. Without getting the trust of everyone here, how could he fulfill the task he was given? He hoped Ben was having more luck where ever he was.

* * *

Dave kept looking at Chrissy's body. "Should we just leave her there?"

"Would you like to carry her back?" Ben asked. Dave shook his head.

"Stop wiggling, you son of a bitch!" Marc yelled. Pedro and Marc then came out of the jungle, each brother holding one of Tommy's arms. Ben did a quick analysis of the twins. Marc seemed like the stronger of the two, but Pedro looked like he kept his brother in check so he didn't do anything stupid. A great pair.

"You guys got it all wrong!" Tommy said, looking straight at Ben, "That guy shot Chrissy!"

Dave scoffed, "What, Ben? Tommy, we aren't stupid, we know you did this." The irony in that sentence almost made Ben laugh.

"No, this guy is playing you!" Marc then delivered a slap across Tommy's face.

"Stop being loud."

"Marc, you didn't have to-"

"Shut up Pedro."

Dave went up to Tommy. "Why did you do it?"

"I didn't," he replied.

"There's no reason to lie, Tommy."

"I'm not lying! He shot her!"

"Okay, let's say Ben shot her," Dave said, "Then why would he have bullet wound on his shoulder?"

"He shot himself."

"And why would he do that?"

"To set me up!" Tommy screamed in Dave's face. Marc then delivered a good punch to Tommy, knocking him out cold.

"You don't gotta do that!" Pedro yelled.

"He was dangerous, Pedro," Marc replied. It felt good to not be the suspect for once, Ben thought. He could play the victim well, since he had practice as Henry Gale. Those were some fun times in the Swan.

"You still don't run around hittin' people!"

"Calm yourself," Marc said.

"Can we just go back to the others, now?" Ben asked. Marc looked at him funny. "What?"

"I thought we were gonna shoot him," he said.

"Marc!"

"I said calm yourself, Pedro! You want a murderer walking around back with the other five? We can just tell them Tommy went insane, killed Chrissy, tried to kill Ben, then offed himself."

"You want to kill him?" Ben asked.

"I'm surprised you don't wanna. Revenge, you know?" Revenge. Ben instantly remembered when he went to the marina to kill Widmore's daughter. That didn't work out so well. How was he supposed to know she had a son? He couldn't have killed her. Just like how he couldn't kill Danielle Rousseau.

Ben got out the gun and put his hand out, offering it to Marc. "You want to do it?"

Marc took a step forward, then hesitated. It wasn't because of Pedro, since he surprisingly didn't say anything. Maybe Pedro secretly want Marc to do it. But Ben knew Marc couldn't. He didn't have the eyes of a killer. A fighter, yes. Just not a killer. Marc let out a sigh and then stepped back.

"Naw, I can't kill him," he said.

This was good for Ben, since he could still have Tommy as an escape goat. It's also not the best thing in the world. If Marc did go and shoot him, Tommy would be kill number two, thus reducing the amount of blood he needs to get on his hands. Then it would be possible to use Marc as the new escape goat, claiming him to be crazy. But Pedro would defend him... Never mind, that wouldn't work out.

"Help me carry him back to the beach," Marc said to Pedro. The two picked up Tommy without too much of a problem. That must have been a really, really good punch.

_X.o.X_

Ben, Dave, Marc, Pedro, and an unconscious Tommy were quickly swarmed by other five. Ben stayed at the back, not really wanting to explain what happened again. Dave could take care of that. An older woman came up to him.

"You're bleeding."

"I know."

She pulled out a bunch of Band-Aids from her pocket.

"I don't think that's going to help," Ben said.

"It's better then your shirt sleeve." She then proceeded to rip off his shirt sleeve. It was already shredded at the top since of the gun shot. She started to put Band-Aids on his shoulder. This was quite weird.

"I suppose you're not a doctor?" Ben asked.

"Nope, just an insect collector," she said, "Your name is Ben, right?"

"Right."

"My name's Leslie," she said, "Nice to meet you."

* * *

**Is it Wednesday yet?**

**LordXwee  
**


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